After an exciting and very close week of racing, British sailors Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield and Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark win silver medals at the 470 World Championships in San Francisco, California.

Nick Rogers and Joe Glanfield set out to better their third place finish at the 2004 Worlds and better it they did. While Aussie sailors Nathan Wilmot and Malcom Page won the gold medal with two races to spare, the battle for the silver and bronze medals had only just begun. Rogers and Glanfield held off the French duo, Philippe and Le Berre, and finished ahead of them in the final two races, securing the silver medal. Nic Asher and Elliot Wills also had a solid performance and finished sixth overall with 79 points.

Rogers commented: “We wanted to come out and win the worlds but Nathan and Malcom sailed really well at this event and took an early lead and eventually won the gold medal. We really had to battle for the silver medal. We managed to get off the line and maintain good boat speed and finally beat the French team and won the silver. From here we just plan to continue to practice and compete and work towards the Beijing Olympics.”

It was a close finish for the Women’s 470 fleet with the gold and silver medal winners ending the regatta with equal points. The Dutch team went into the final day of racing with a three-point lead on RYA Team GBR’s Christina Bassadone and Saskia Clark. With all to play for on the water, the British pair had two good races on the final day but was unable to pull out in front. With the Dutch team and the British team finishing with 32 points each, Marceline De Koning and Lobke Berkhout took the gold medal as they had more first place finishes than Bassadone and Clark who took the silver. Pippa Wilson and Sheena Craig also had a notable finish, securing seventh place overall.

Overall Results

470 Men

1, Nathan Wilmot/Malcom Page, AUS (2,1,8,1,1,1,2,4,1,11,1,2,(dns),(dns)) 35 pts

2, Nick Rogers/Joe Glanfield, GBR (7,3,(11),1,2,6,1,8,10,(12),2,4,6,1) 51 pts

3, Gildas Phillippe/ Nicholas Le Berre, FRA (1,4,14,2,2,6,3,7(dsq),3,(18),5,13,2) 62 pts

Other GBR

6, Nic Asher/Elliot Wills (4,14,3,4,7,3,3,8,9,7,7,3,11,(22),(dnf)) 79 pts

22, Luke Patience/Chris Grube (4,16,15,8,17,11,(29),11,22,9,(28),22,11,15) 161 pts

31, Callum MacDonald/Stuart Bithell (11,5,18,19,8,16,28,(31),27,24,(29),14,10) 207 pts

36, JohnGrimson/David Steed ((26),11,13,6,26,(bfd),24,5,1,19,4,4,11,4) 128 pts

470 Women

1, Marcelien de Koning/Jobke Berkhout, NED (1,1,1,4,6,1,3,3,5,4,2,(8),(7),1) 32 pts

2, Christina Bassadone/Saskia Clark, GBR (3,2,3,5,4,4,(21),(12),1,3,1,2,2,2) 32 pts

3, Ingrid Petitjean/Nadege Douroux, FRA (11,(15),6,6,1,2,2,2,2,2,(dsq),1,4,3) 42 pts

Other GBR

7, Pippa Wilson/ Sheena Craig ((rds),6,15,(19),9,11,11,4,(28),5,8,4,3,7) 94 pts

25, Lucy MacGregor/Julia Scott (2,20,26,24,22,(28),(30),20,28,22,22,17,21,24,27) 268

29, Elizabeth Greenhalgh/Rachel Larman (16,(dnf),27,23,27,17,(32),26,25,19,28,29,16,28) 281 pts